Assemblyman Jo O-seop: "Honam High-Speed Railway Phase 2 Entire Section at Risk of Gravel Track Design"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] The second phase of the Honam High-Speed Railway is at risk of being designed with a 'ballast track' instead of the 'concrete track,' which has received excellent evaluations in terms of life cycle cost (LCC), economic efficiency, safety, and environmental friendliness.

According to Assemblyman Jo Oseop (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Gap) on the 15th, despite the outstanding economic and environmental advantages of concrete tracks, the entire section of the second phase of the Honam High-Speed Railway (Gomakwon?Mokpo) will be designed with ballast tracks due to total project cost limits set by the preliminary feasibility study standard guidelines.

KR has completed track designs for four conventional railway sections with a design speed of 250 km/h, including the Seohae Line, Dodam?Yeongcheon, Yeongcheon?Singyeongju, and Wonju?Gangneung, and is currently planning the second phase of the Honam High-Speed Railway with a design speed of 350 km/h.

Among the four conventional railway sections, only the Seohae Line was designed entirely with concrete tracks, while Dodam?Yeongcheon (tunnels and bridges), Yeongcheon?Singyeongju (tunnels), and Wonju?Gangneung (main line) were confirmed to have concrete tracks in their designs.

For the second phase of the Honam High-Speed Railway, although the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport initially planned the entire section with ballast tracks in the basic design, KR is pushing for a design with concrete tracks throughout the entire section.

According to the interim report of the 'Establishment of Application Standards for Expanding Concrete Track Implementation' commissioned by KR in June 2019 to KRCT and the Korea Railroad Research Institute, concrete tracks have a higher initial construction cost of 1.2 billion KRW/km compared to 800 million KRW/km for ballast tracks, but considering LCC including maintenance costs, they are more economical.

In particular, for tracks with a design speed of 230 km/h or higher, applying concrete tracks throughout the entire section is advantageous from an LCC perspective. Compared to ballast tracks, concrete tracks also help prevent ballast scattering caused by train slipstreams during high-speed operation and accidents from snow and ice falling in winter, and have strengths in environmental aspects such as reducing fine dust.

Accordingly, KR is designing the second phase of the Honam High-Speed Railway with concrete tracks throughout, but due to total project cost issues under the preliminary feasibility study standard guidelines, it faces the situation of having to design the track entirely with ballast tracks.

Assemblyman Jo Oseop said, "There have been 265 cases of train speed restrictions due to heatwaves in the past five years, and safety risks from buckling phenomena continue, as seen in the 2018 Gyeongbu Line freight train derailment accident," adding, "KR must actively resolve the total project cost issues in the preliminary feasibility study, which are obstacles to promoting concrete track design that enhances the safety of high-speed railway tracks."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.